Class 4 Winds, hosted a seminar on transmission lines coming to the Texas Panhandle
AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Class 4 Winds, hosted a seminar on the much needed transmission lines to propel the Texas Panhandle's wind industry.
Representatives from Cross Texas and Sharyland, the two companies that will own, operate, and build the transmission lines, answered questions, gave timeline details, and explained the process to a packed crowd at the Ambassador hotel on Monday.
Community leaders, county officials, and contractors from all over the Texas Panhandle attended the seminar.
The Panhandle should benefit in several ways. The landowners obviously will benefit from agreements made with the companies, and counties which host the lines, will be paid ad valorem taxes.
Contractors have a great chance to get it on several phases of the construction process, including foundation work, concrete work, aluminum welders will be needed, access roads will have to be built, and sub stations will also have to be built as well.
The timeline looks like this, for the next year community meetings will be held. In 2010, they look to have approval from the public utilities commission of Texas. 2011 should see more in depth meetings between the companies and landowners about right of way. The companies building will also work on surveying the land and look at engineering and contractibility reviews. 2012, Construction crews will erect towers and lines and will hopefully be complete sometime in 2013.
"We've talked about this so long, and we've known that they we're coming, but now its really something tangible that we can really wrap our heads around and really get a clear picture into seeing what's coming, how it's coming, and when it's going to get here," said A.J. Swope, Executive Director of Class 4 Winds.
